Poupee de la Demons
by kdibs227cheerleader
Summary: Never open strange packages if one is not prepared to endure and 'enjoy' the contents.


_In a town in the woods at the top of a hill  
>There's a house where no one lives<br>So you take a big bag of your big city money there and buy it  
>Then at night when you're all alone<br>And the house is dark there's a noise upstairs  
>At the top of the stairs there's a door so you take a deep breath and try it<br>_

Long, delicate fingers fluttered around a rounded table as they searched for something. The table was cluttered with numerous things; a sewing kit, fabrics of all colors and small, delicate porcelain doll. It looked so unnatural in its setting, surrounded by clutter and chaos.

The room was tiny, only as big as a small storage closet. It had other dolls stored on shelves, but they were old and caked with dust. The wallpaper was peeling and the room smelled of mildew. The lady couldn't care less-why would she when all of her creations were used to exist outside this room? She was just about to finish, when the bell above the main door rang. She frowned; it was past seven, and all potential customers were back in their respectable places.

She muttered under her breath and pushed aside a curtain of beads separating the staircase that led upstairs from the main floor. The show room, where most of the finished dolls were on display, wasn't much larger than the room upstairs. It did however have a few differences; in place of the round table, a glass top counter with an old cash register, and neat and polished dolls in place of the ones upstairs.

A man was standing there, his hands clasped behind his back. He was decked out all in black, and a pair of dark shades blocked her from fully seeing his eyes. The way he carried himself suggested his was confident, maybe even a bit pompous. She coughed and he turned away from one of the shelves on the far wall to face her.

"Ah, you must be the owner," He said casually. She subconsciously smoothed down the front of her dress.

"Yes, what can I do you for?"

He laughed, but it rang hollow. Clearly this man wasn't here to window shop; none of her customers came here without a plan in mind.

"I heard from certain people that you are the lady to go to for a more…under the radar way of handling things," The man's lips turned upward into a sneer.

"You're not one of my regulars," She said, brushing off a thing layer of dust off the counter top.

"Of course not. I like to stay under the radar as well."

She cocked an eyebrow. "In that outfit. Son, you're going to draw more whispers in this town than you want."

"I heard you are a very resourceful person," He said smoothly. She narrowed her eyes; her skill was as unusual, and not many people, save a handful, knew of it.

"I am."

There was a silence, and then the man smiled like a leopard who had just found his next meal.

"I have a wonderful business opportunity for you," He said and walked forward so that his arms came to rest on the edge of the counter.

"I need a name, dear," She droned. Clearly he wasn't a resourceful client. When he didn't answer she sighed and bent below the counter. She pulled out a pen and her usual records book. It had been her grandmothers, and her mothers. Now it was hers.

"My name's Nadine," Nadine supplied helpfully. His lips pressed together and his head nodded curtly.

"Just put something inconspicuous down," He said absently.

"Like Smith or something?"

"No, something that you won't forget." He leaned forward, and she saw something odd lurking beneath his shades.

"Put down Wilson as the name."

Nadine nodded briskly and scribbled it in with her smooth cursive handwriting.

"Alright, follow me."

She led him upstairs, and showed him the dolls. Unlike the ones downstairs, these were kept separate for a reason.

"Which one is the most effective?" Wilson said in a business tone.

"Depends what you want done."

He found the unfinished doll lying on the table, and picked it up. He rolled it in his hands, and then put it back on the table.

"Will this one be down soon?" Slade asked.

"It'll be down by tomorrow," Nadine replied flatly. He nodded and pulled out a check from his pocket. When he pressed it into her hand another piece of paper peeked out from behind the check.

"What's this?" Nadine asked as she looked at it. It was an address, to where she didn't know, but it was for a place in Jump City. Wherever that was.

"When the doll is done, send it there. Don't send anything other than the doll." He instructed.

"I understand. Now you can leave," She said pointing towards the stairs.

"You're sure that this will work? I would hate to find this is a hoax. It would be very…unpleasant for you if it were." Wilson droned. Nadine snorted.

"If you listened to any of my clients you will know that nothing I do is unsatisfactory. You'll get your moneys work."

Wilson nodded and took off down the stairs. The door banged closed, and Nadine cracked her fingers as she turned back towards her work.

Whoever her client wanted out of the way must have been a serious problem if he had come to see her.

_And the flashlight shines on something moving just inside the door  
>There's a tattered dress and a feeling that you've felt somewhere before<em>

"Ok, mails here!" Beast Boy shouted as he entered the common room. Robin and Cyborg barely acknowledged him from their spots on the couch. The room was filled with the sounds from the video game they were playing.

"Just leave it on the table, B," Cyborg said as he pounded the keys on the video controller. Robin sat beside him, leaning so far forward he was halfway off the couch. Starfire was in the kitchen, stirring _something_ in one of the ceramic bowls.

"Hey Star," Beast Boy said cheerfully as he put down the mail of the table. There seemed to be a lot of mail today; there were several envelopes for Robin, a magazine for Cyborg, and an unmarked package. Beast Boy frowned and turned in over in his hands, looking for some sort of identification.

"You have that same look on when you were trying to figure out the Rubik's Cube Robin gave you for Christmas last year," Raven commented as she floated into the kitchen to make her tea.

"Hey, that thing is impossible," Beast Boy said as he looked up from the box. Raven rolled her eyes and reached over Starfire's arm for her kettle.

"Just don't think too hard, I don't feel like fixing your head today." She dully informed him. Behind her back, Beast Boy stuck out his tongue at her.

"Ok, so what do we got?" Cyborg asked as he plopped down into one of the kitchen chairs. Robin came in after him, throwing a glare at the metal teen. Clearly he wasn't the winner of the game that had gone on.

"Stuff for Robin, stuff for Robin," muttered Cyborg as he shuffled the mail around, "oh, look at this, more stuff for Robin." He said, handing off the items to the masked teen. Starfire floated over, and grabbed her magazine over Robins shoulder.

"Who's that for?" Robin asked as he watched Beast Boy put the package back down on the table. The younger boy shrugged.

"Not sure, it doesn't have any sort of name on it other than the address."

Five sets of eyes stared at the box. Raven sighed as she sat down opposite of Cyborg.

"Why doesn't someone just open it?" She asked as she took a sip of her tea.

"I will!" Beast Boy and Cyborg both shouted at the same time.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda now!" The changeling said, pointing at his best friend smugly. Cyborg's eye twitched.

"Friends, perhaps we may all open the package?" Starfire asked as she returned her gaze to the object on the table.

"Fine." Hands gripped onto the box, and after a count of three, there was a simple white box lying before them.

Robin opened up the tabs, and peered inside. Silence reigned for a few moments.

"This has to be a mistake," Raven said distastefully. Beast Boy nodded as Robin pulled out the content of the box.

In his hands was a porcelain doll. She had on a delicate dress of white and blue. Her hair was a fiery red, curled into ringlets and framed her face. Her eyes were blue. Everything about this doll screamed perfection. Nothing was off, any stitch out of place on the dress, no loose hair, no smudged paint on her face.

"Well, we never got one of these before," Cyborg commented.

"Is there a note, perhaps?" Starfire said as she took the doll from Robin's hands. Beast Boy leaned over towards Raven, trying to see better. She cocked an eyebrow.

"Do you mind?" She asked. Beast Boy looked at her, then grinned.

"Nope."

"You know you could have stayed over there."

"Yes."

"So why are you standing over here then?"

"Because I can't see over there."

"It's not my fault you're short."

Any chance of it turning into an argument was stopped when Robin cleared his throat.

"Well, if you two are done now," He started, "we don't have a name, so I guess we're stuck with it.'

There was a beat of silence.

"I'm not keeping this in my room." He said. The kitchen was soon in an uproar on who was going to take the doll.

_And there's the creepy doll  
>That always follows you<br>It's got a ruined eye  
>That's always open<br>_

He knew that deciding who got the doll by playing 'rock, paper, scissors' was dumb. He should have known that Raven would cheat by reading his mind, Starfire was just lucky, and Robin and Beast Boy always managed to beat him.

Cyborg was pretty intent on just throwing the doll in the back of his closet, but the way Star had looked at him was making him feel guilty. He had resolved to put it up on one of his shelves, half hidden by a stack of cd's and a picture of the entire team.

He went through his normal routine that day, training and kicking butt, so when he went back to his room, he didn't think about the doll. He must have been asleep for awhile, because the next thing he knew he was sitting up, wide awake, wondering what had woken him up.

He looked around his room, getting his sonic canon ready just in case, and found the source of the noise. The picture of his team was on the floor, the shards of glass scattered underneath the shelve.

He picked it up, frowning, until he looked up. The doll, who had been thrown on the shelve haphazardly, was leaning sideways. Cyborg felt a slight chill go through him when he looked at it.

One of the eyes had a crack running through it. He picked it up, then turned and threw it in the back of his closet.

He planned to pass the doll onto one of his teammates in the morning.

_And there's a creepy doll  
>That always follows you<br>It's got a pretty mouth  
>To swallow you whole<em>

No one would take it. Not even Starfire, who loved things like this, would take it off his hands. He kept it in his closet. Maybe he could stash it down in the basement before anyone noticed. _  
><em>

So when his team was off somewhere, he snuck down into the basement, being careful of the loose steps. The last time they had been down here was when Robin had gotten into a spring cleaning kick. They carted boxes and boxes of stuff down there, only stopping when Robin lost his balance and crashed into Beast Boy.

It was dark and he had to use his shoulder lights. He picked a regular box in the back of the basement and crammed the doll into it. Cyborg turned and left the room, forgetting about the doll the second his feet touched the top stairs.

_So you scream and you close the door  
>And you tell yourself it was just a dream<br>In the morning you head into town cause you want to go antiquing  
>In the store there's a strange old man<br>With a wandering eye and a withered hand  
>When he hands you the old wooden box you can hear his old bones creaking<br>_

Beast Boy never had trouble sleeping, most of the time. Sometimes there was a run of nightmares, but he usually just went swimming or flying until he was too tired to do anything then drop dead asleep.

This week seemed to be one of those times.

He didn't have any trouble navigating through the tower at night; his vision was great in the dark so he didn't bother turning on any lights. He found Raven reading in the kitchen, a steaming cup of tea beside her and her nose buried in a large book. He muttered a 'hello' and took an apple from the basket on the counter. Raven looked up at him once, and then returned to her book.

"I'm surprised you're still awake," She said as she flipped a page. Beast Boy shrugged as he took a seat.

"Couldn't sleep," He said as he took a bite of his apple. They didn't say anything for a few minutes, and the only sounds in the room were of the crinkling of pages and the sounds of an apple being bitten into.

"I guess that makes two of us."

Beast Boy looked at her. Her hair was slightly mused, but the circles under her eyes were an obvious indication that she hadn't been sleeping.

"Ya, I guess it does," He replied. Raven put down her book and reached for her cup of tea.

"I heard Cyborg asked you to take the doll," She said absently.

"He asked everyone. I didn't want it at all," Beast Boy said as he took another bite.

"I would have thought that Starfire would've taken it."

Everyone thought that Star would, but she didn't. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, but the doll was, in simple terms, creepy.

"Why! Just 'cus she likes girly things?" Beast Boy asked. Raven shrugged.

"Maybe, all I know is that people can't sleep and that doll gives me the creeps."

Beast Boy frowned; Raven never said she was weirded out except for that time when they watched 'Wicked Scary'.

"I think it gives us all the creeps."

They didn't talk for awhile, not until Beast Boy was long done with his apple and thinking about how cold the water would be at this hour.

"I'm thinking that there's something wrong with the doll."

"Huh?"

"I think," Raven started again, "that there is something wrong with it. I just feel that the thing isn't…normal."

Beast Boy blinked.

"You think that the doll isn't _normal_?" He asked slowly. Raven nodded and looked out the window.

"It feels…alive somehow."

"Alive how, Raven? Last time I checked, it wasn't up and walking around."

She looked at him, and then tapped her fingers on her mug; when she looked back up, the focus in her eyes was unnerving.

"I'm going to try to explain this to you in simple terms. Sometimes, energy or…spirits, can inhabit an object," Raven began.

"Couldn't it be a person too?" Beast Boy asked. Raven nodded and then continued.

"Yes, but this doesn't feel like a person, it just gives off a bad vibe."

They didn't talk for awhile, until the changeling spoke up.

"So, you think that the doll's possessed?" He asked. Raven looked at him, then got up and put her cup in the sink. She turned around to face him.

"I don't know that for sure," She said, "but all I can say for certain is that something is off with it and it didn't just end up at the tower by accident."

_And you know what you will find inside the moment that you see  
>That someone carved your name into the tarnished silver key<br>_

Starfire was walking down the hall, humming under her breath, when she spotted something outside one of the rooms. The bedrooms were on the fifth floor, and the only rooms down at the end of the hall were Beast Boy's and Raven's. She went over to investigate, and screamed.

The team was up in a moment, and then they screeched to a halt. Beast Boys and Ravens rooms were across from one another. The wall separating them were marked with weird symbols, and underneath them was the doll.

It was holding a photo of them.

"Ok, who's responsible for this?" Robin hissed. He turned to his team, zoning in on Beast Boy.

"Don't you dare blame this on me! I was with Raven all day, ask her."

"He was," Raven confirmed, gazing at the markings. She shook her head and looked at the doll. She could have _sworn_ it was grinning.

"This doesn't make any sense," Cyborg said in disbelief.

"Why not? Someone had to do this," Robin said. Cyborg shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Look man, I put the doll in the basement. I'm the only one who knows where it was; that, and the fact that all of us were out of the tower and no one was by themselves."

"Ok, so maybe _we_ didn't plant this," Raven said. "Any ideas of who would?"

"Why would anyone come all the way out here to do something like this?" Beast Boy asked. "Our alarm would have gone off and alerted us to anyone in the tower that wasn't us."

"B's right," Cyborg said thoughtfully, "we would have known if there was someone in the tower that shouldn't be."

Everyone was looking at each other and the doll.

"I believe this is unusual," Starfire said softly. The others could only nod.

_And there's a creepy doll  
>That always follows you<br>It's got a ruined eye  
>That's always open<br>_

They all voted to watch the video surveillance together, trying to find something on the tape that would shed light on the incident.

There wasn't anything.

It was a few days until other things started happening. The power was cut throughout the tower, and even though Cyborg checked the circuits numerous times, he couldn't find anything.

The evaluator cable broke when Beast Boy was in it; thankfully he wasn't injured severely, more shaken than hurt, but no one could make sense of it.

Nightmares plagued them, some much so that they had taken to sleeping in the common room together.

The doll was stashed in the basement, locked away in one of the many safes.

_And there's a creepy doll  
>That always follows you<br>It's got a pretty mouth  
>To swallow you whole<br>_

Beast Boy had fallen asleep next to Cyborg, half propped up by his shoulder. He didn't know what had woken him up, until he heard the elevator doors open. He sat up with a start, making sure all of his friends were here.

They were. Beast Boy felt a chill, even though the room was at eighty degrees. Robin stirred and saw Beast Boy up.

"Beast Boy, what's-" He was cut off by his friends hand.

"Sh," He said, "the elevator is working and all of us are _here_."

After a few moments, the rest of the team was awake. They walked out into the corridor, intent on finding out what was going on.

"No way," Beast Boy said.

"I don't believe it," Raven said as she felt her green friend move closer to her.

The doll was sitting in front of the doors as if it was waiting to be invited it.

_And when you come home late the doll is waiting up for you  
>And when you fix a snack the doll says it would like one too<br>The doll is in your house and in your room and in your bed  
>The doll is in your eyes and in your arms and in your head and you are crazy<br>_

Cyborg checked the doll to see if there was any sort of computer chip that was making the doll move. He didn't find anything out the ordinary.

Robin set up cameras in the basement, where the doll was stashed for the third time, hoping to catch something. The cameras were damaged by a freak pipe burst.

Starfire was creeped out, Beast Boy couldn't offer any help than the rest of them, and Raven told the rest of the team of her suspicions.

They resolved to get rid of the doll in the morning.

_Now it's late and you head downstairs  
>Cause you just can't sleep and you make some tea<br>And the doll disapprovingly asks if you really need that much honey  
>You decide that you've had enough<br>And you lock the doll in the wooden box  
>You put the box in the fireplace next to your bag of big city money<br>_

They woke up to find the doll on the counter. This time the doll was grinning. The blue eyes were replaced with black pupils, making the innocent doll look like a demonic one.

"_Did you think you could get rid of me?"_ It sang. It was as if ice and been injected into their veins.

The clock on the stove read that it was _3:12_; Raven had once said that three o'clock was the witching hour. The light bulbs shattered, and there was a small mist that began to roll down to the floor from underneath the doll.

"Rae…" Beast Boy said weakly. What the heck was this thing?

"We need to get rid of it." Raven said.

The mist was reaching the steps that led down to the ops center.

"That's great, Raven," Cyborg said, trying to keep his voice even. "How are we going to do that?"

_As the smoke fills up your tiny room there's nothing you can do  
>And far too late you see the one inside the box is you<br>_

"We need to destroy it!" Raven instructed. The mist was wrapping around their ankles.

"How?" Starfire asked, trying to loosen the grip on her leg.

"How do you usually destroy things?" Beast Boy asked as Robin steadied him as the mist began to travel up his leg.

"A fire," Cyborg said.

He loaded his canon up, instructing over his shoulder to Starfire to shoot when he did.

"Three," He began the countdown. The mist was climbing higher…

"Two," Robin said, trying to release himself.

"One," Raven said as her eyes glowed.

_And there's a creepy doll  
>That always follows you<br>It's got a ruined eye  
>That's always open<br>_

The blast sent the kitchen into flames. The mist vanished as soon as the doll was hit. They could see the doll being consumed in the flames from their spot.

When the doll was nothing more than ashes, the emergency sprinklers came on.

"How did you know you had to do that?" Robin asked as they made sure that the doll was actually gone.

"I had a hunch," Raven said, "I've read about cults that use demons to inhabit objects and wreck chaos on others."

"So…we were targeted by a cult?" Beast Boy asked in disbelief.

"Well, of all the things that have happened to us, it could have been worse." Cyborg said.

"I guess we better clean this up." Robin said.

"I will fetch the cleaning supplies!" Starfire said happily, already back to her usual bubbly self.

"I think we need a new rule," Beast Boy said as he helped Cyborg.

"Oh, you have a rule?" Raven said in amusement.

"Ya, next time an unidentified package gets delivered here, we get rid of it-_before_ we open it."

They couldn't agree more.

_And there's a creepy doll  
>That always follows you<br>It's got a pretty mouth  
>To swallow you whole<em>

Authors Note: Ok, so I finally uploaded this story. One of my friends gave me this idea awhile ago, and I ended up writing and scraping this story twice before I was even ok with keeping it. So, let me know what you think and review!__


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